The perfectly imperfect weekend
by Caitlyn-4479
Summary: Cid and Hilda are off on a holiday and Eiko is staying with Zidane and Dagger for the weekend. But a lot of unexpected turns come their way. Will it all work out? ZxD Finished.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! This is my, what… 1, 2, 3… 5th fanfic! And I reckon this is the best idea I've had yet! ^_^ Hope you enjoy it!

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The warm sun bathed Alexandria as the morning began its daily routine. The quite streets started to bustle with people, and the shops began to open.

Inside the castle, it was much quieter. It had been 4 years since Zidane and Dagger had begun their adventure together. Both being 20 now and living together in the castle, Zidane had become more accustom to castle living.

On this particular day, they were both sleeping in. It was Friday morning and neither of them were planning to get up.

The sunlight poured into the bedroom as Dagger stirred around, rubbing her eyes. Sitting up and squinting, she looked down at Zidane, who was snoring lightly. She giggled a bit and looked up at the clock on the wall.

9:12am

"Oh!" Dagger gasped. She had a meeting at 9:30! She scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom to fix herself up.

Zidane, of course, hadn't stirred the slightest.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mist continent, Regent Cid was up and busy, organising something. He had many papers sprawled all across the table, with many pamphlets and brochures for holidays.

"Hello father!" called out a small voice, trailing up the stairs.

Cid looked over to find his adopted daughter, Eiko, walking into the room. She was 10 now, and had been living as a princess for while now.

"What are you doing, father?" Eiko asked.

Regent Cid chuckled slightly as he picked up a brochure. "Just between you and me, I'm thinking of taking your mother on a little holiday. To getaway for a little while."

"Oh, that's sounds lovely! Where will we go?" Eiko asked, putting her hands onto the table and reaching over to take a peek.

"Oh Eiko, I was kind of hoping it would just be me and Hilda. You know, a little vacation for the two of us!"

"Oh…" Eiko said, slightly disappointed. "Will I be staying here?"

"Well actually, I'm not sure you should stay here on your own, as much as I trust the maids. I thought you might like to stay with Garnet and Zidane for the weekend."

Eiko's face lit up. "Really!?" Eiko refrained herself and said, "I mean, that sounds great!"

Cid chuckled again. "I knew you'd like to stay with them! You'd better start packing if you want to go tonight."

"When will you and mother be leaving? Where are you going?"

"I think we'll be going on a boat cruise around Gaia. The boat leaves first thing tomorrow morning, but I thought you might like to stay at Alexandria a little longer. You can go stay there tonight too. Do you like the sound of that?"

"I do! Thank you, father!" Eiko hugged her father and added "You two have lots of fun!" Then she ran off to go pack.

Cid smiled and took the cruise brochure with him to go surprise his wife.

----

It was just after lunch in Alexandria castle. Lately Lindblum and Alexandria castle had had a transmitter installed in the castle, very much like the one in Regent Cid's Hilda Garde 3. It allowed the Regent and the queen to stay in contact when needed, in case of emergency.

Dagger was walking up to her chamber when the transmitter started beeping. She jumped a bit and looked over at the machine. Sighing with relief, she walked over and pressed the button that allowed her voice to go through.

"Hello," She said pleasantly.

"Garnet! It's Uncle Cid. I have a favour to ask of you…"

"Oh? What's that?"

"Well, Hilda and I are taking some time off to relax on a cruise."

"That's sounds delightful! I'm sure Hilda was rapt."

"Oh yes, she was!"

"So, what did you want to ask?"

"Oh, I was wondering if you could baby sit Eiko for the weekend. She'll come over tonight and we'll pick her up on Monday morning."

"Of course we'll have Eiko over! It'll be our pleasure."

"Fantastic! She's very excited, you know. She's already packing! Well, I'll see you in a few hours then. How's after dinner?"

"That's fine. We'll see you then!"

The transmitter beeped once again to initiate that the conversation was over. Dagger had a smile from ear to ear. She and Eiko were very close. She went to go tell Zidane.

----

"I'm so excited!" Eiko cried as the Hilda Garde was on its way to Alexandria. "I mean, I'm sure we'll have a splendid time!"

Hilda smiled warmly. She was by Eiko's side out the front of the ship, watching the sunset. Cid was in the cockpit.

"I'm sure you will. Darling, don't forget your manners."

"Of course not, mother." Eiko said with dignity, like she'd practiced.

The castle came into view and Hilda went into the cockpit to talk to Cid. Eiko was on her own now, and she let out a small squeal of excitement. Her boisterous self showed through that shriek.

The airship docked and Cid and Hilda helped bring Eiko's bags inside. Dagger and Zidane were inside waiting for them.

"Good evening!" Eiko said politely walking up to the couple. Zidane gave a puzzled look whilst Dagger smiled warmly. Dagger kneeled down and gave Eiko a hug.

"Thank you for looking after Eiko." Hilda said gratefully. "It means a lot."

"No problem!" Zidane assured. He then looked at all of Eiko's luggage. About 3 large bags were resting behind Cid.

"Are you staying for a month?" Zidane teased. Dagger let go of Eiko and stood up, and elbowed Zidane on his side.

"Zidane, don't be rude." Dagger whispered.

Eiko laughed lightly and said "Well, a princess must bring her necessities!"

"Thank you. I hope she's not too much trouble!" Cid laughed.

Soon Cid and Hilda said goodbye and Zidane helped Eiko take her stuff to the guest room. The room was opposite Zidane and Dagger's room, across the hall.

Inside the guest room, Zidane plopped the last bag down. "Do you need help unloading these bags?"

"No, I'm sure I'll be fine. Thank you anyway."

"_She's acting very weird…"_ Zidane thought. Eiko had never been like this. Even Dagger wasn't like this at her age. Either Cid and Hilda had trained her real well or that wasn't the real Eiko.

"So, what did you wanna do tonight?" Zidane asked. Eiko had been over plenty of times and had lots of favourite things to do.

"Um… I think I'll go to bed early tonight. A princess needs her sleep to stay poised and pleasant during the day!"

"U-Okay… do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine thank you. Goodnight."

Zidane looked stunned. Eiko had _never _been like this.

"Goodnight…" Zidane mumbled, and shut the door behind him. He found Dagger waiting outside.

"What's wrong?"

"She's going to bed." Zidane said simply. He started walking towards their bedroom.

"What?" Dagger asked, following him.

"Mm!" Zidane nodded. "She said a princess needs her sleep to say pleasant or something."

"Eiko's acting very strange…"

"Tell me about it." Zidane opened the door and walked inside. "Do you think something's wrong?"

"Maybe just leave her for the night. See how she is tomorrow."


	2. Chapter 2

In the morning Eiko was up bright and early, about the same time as Dagger. They were at the breakfast table talking.

"Did you have a good sleep, Eiko?" Dagger asked. Quina was in the kitchen preparing their breakfast.

"I did indeed." Eiko said.

"Did you want to come into town with me today?"

"Of course! What will we do?"

"We could go shopping, just you and me. Zidane has to go to Lindblum today to help Baku and the others with something."

"Oh, that would be lovely!" Eiko exclaimed, almost in a funny accent.

"Here you go!" Quina called out, coming in with a scrumptious plate of eggs, bacon and toast. As they started to eat Zidane came down the stairs.

"Mm, I smell breakfast!" Zidane called out.

"Sorry, there's not enough for you!" Eiko giggled. Just as Zidane thought the old Eiko was coming back she said, "I mean, you may need to ask Quina for more, Zidane."

After breakfast Eiko and Dagger got ready and headed out into town. Alexandria had grown a lot and there were many more shops to go. Steiner of course wanted to go supervise, but Dagger insisted this was a girls-only shopping spree.

Dagger and Eiko walked into a mall-like shop with many different things in it; Clothes, jewellery, weapons and more.

"Dagger, look at this!" Eiko called out. Dagger followed her into a designer clothes shop where Eiko was looking at a beautiful red dress, which looked like Eiko's size.

"I didn't know this was your type, Eiko." Dagger mentioned.

"Don't you know, a princess must always wear the finest!" Eiko stated.

They continued walking and window shopping for a while until they got hungry. They went to the small food court near the centre of the mall. There was a fountain nearby.

"What would you like to eat?" Dagger asked.

Eiko looked around. Dagger could see her looking at the ice cream stand, but she wasn't inclined to say anything at that point.

"Do you want some ice cream?" Dagger teased.

Eiko looked up with big eyes. "If you don't mind, yes please."

Dagger giggled and took her over to the stand. They both got a cone each, and Eiko got 2 scoops. Dagger chose strawberry and Eiko had chocolate.

"Yum!" Eiko cried, licking at her ice cream. "Let's go sit by the fountain!"

A glimpse of Eiko had come back. Dagger smiled and followed her as they both sat on the edge of the stone

"Thank you very much for taking me out today." Eiko said gratefully.

"It was my pleasure." Dagger smiled.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Eiko asked, pointing to a group of people crowing around something. She grabbed Dagger wrist and started walking towards it.

"Eiko, we really-"

"WHOA!!" Eiko cried. She slipped up on a spill near the fountain, hurdling herself towards the edge of the fountain, and incidentally dragging Dagger _into_ the fountain.

"Ahhh!" Dagger cried, falling head first into the shallow fountain. Her ice-cream which had slipped out of her hand had fallen onto her head. Smears of strawberry were slipping down her face.

People started running over, and one person, who was obviously a journalist for the Alexandria times, yelled out "What a scoop! Haha! Get it?"

Eiko put her hands up to her mouth and said, "I'm so sorry, Dagger!"

Dagger got out, wet and dripping with ice cream.

"… Let's go home."

----

After the havoc Eiko had caused today both she and Dagger were very tired. Dagger knew their story would be all over the tabloids tomorrow. _"Princess Eiko pushed Queen Garnet into a fountain at Alexandria food court…"_

Dagger wasn't looking forward to it.

Eiko had gone straight to bed after dinner, tired from her long day. After dinner, Dagger had done some paperwork and decided to go to bed herself. Zidane, on the other hand, had another idea…

Dagger was lying in bed, changed into her night gown that she slept in. She was reading a book while resting her back against the bed head.

"Oh, Dagger?" Zidane asked cheekily, walking into the room.

"Mm?" Dagger asked, not looking up from her book. She was obviously in deep thought and was well into the novel.

Zidane pounced onto the bed and snuck up to where Dagger lay, wrapping his left arm around her waist. "Watcha doin?"

"Reading." Dagger merely said. She knew what Zidane was thinking. And tonight she was going to ignore his antics.

Zidane playfully slipped his hand under Dagger's nightie and onto her belly, tickling her a bit. She giggled and put the book on the bed face down, and said, "Zidane, please."

"C'mon!" Zidane teased. He lightly kissed her on her neck.

"Zidane, we can't." She said sternly, putting her hands onto his shoulders to push him back.

"Sure we can." He kissed her on the lips and rubbed her cheek with his hand, his other hand still on her stomach.

"No. Eiko will hear us."

"No she won't. She's in the guest room."

"She's right across the hall from us!"

"We'll be quiet."

"Oh, sure!"

Zidane smiled cheekily and kissed her again. That smile always won her over, no matter what the problem was. She caved in and started kissing back, then stopped and said "If Eiko walks in you're dead."

"Don't worry, we'll be quiet." Zidane winked, and blew out the candle that was alight on the desk next to them.

They kissed each other passionately as Zidane laid his body over hers. His tail swirled quickly as he started lightly kissing her neck. She giggled and whispered "I love you…" He perked his head up and smiled. "I love you too…"

He continued kissing her on the lips, but this kiss was a lot stronger and passionate. They were throwing everything into this kiss. Zidane slipped his hand back under her shirt and onto her thigh. They continued kissing until they heard a "KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!" At the door.

"Whoa!!" Zidane yelled out, falling off of Dagger and onto the floor.

"Excuse me. May I come in?" called out a small voice. It was Eiko.

"Of course, Eiko!" Dagger called out. Before she reached up to open the door Zidane moaned.

"What a mood killer…"

Dagger rolled her eyes and turned to the open door where Eiko was standing. Her hair was down and she looked tired and teary.

"Pardon me Zidane, but what are you doing?" Eiko asked, looking at the bewildered Zidane on the floor.

Zidane changed his stance to a cool pose. "Oh you know, just lounging around."

"What's wrong, Eiko?" Dagger asked.

Zidane hopped back up on the bed as Eiko searched for words.

"Uh… I had a bad dream… can I sleep with you tonight?"

Dagger looked sympathetically at her and said "Of course, Eiko!"

Zidane mumbled something neither of them heard.

Eiko smiled and ran up to the bed, scrambled up and hopped in the middle of the two. She got comfy under the sheets and said "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Eiko." Dagger said warmly, ducking under the covers herself. Zidane did the same, but he wasn't happy.

In about 20 minutes Eiko was sound asleep and breathing quietly. Zidane perked his head up and said "Dagger?"

"Mm?" Dagger asked, half asleep.

"Can we still-"

"No."

"But what if we-"

"No."

"Even if we-"

"No."

"_Dammit…" _

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	3. Chapter 3

So I haven't even bothered to look at this story in ages, probably because it's so bad I wanted to forget it. But I wanted to finish it, so here goes! =P

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"Your majesty, have you seen this?" Asked Steiner, holding up the Alexandrian Daily newspaper. Dagger overlooked it.

"Yes, I am aware of yesterday's incident." She sighed.

Steiner saw the look on her face and decided not to question it. At that moment Eiko came down the stairs.

"Ah! Lady Eiko, how are you this morning?" He asked. Since she had become the princess of Lindblum Steiner had grown fonder of Eiko.

"Good, thank you." She replied with dignity.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Steiner asked.

"I did, thank you." She smiled. At that moment Zidane came down the stairs, yawning.

"I'm glad you did." He said dully, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I disturb you last night?" Eiko asked.

'Apart from ruining my sex life…' He thought. "No, not at all." He lied.

"Shall we have breakfast now?" Eiko asked politely. Zidane groaned. He was getting sick and tired of this Eiko. He wanted the old Eiko back, as did everyone.

"Yes princess, I shall get Quina to take your order immediately!" Steiner said, saluting to the young girl. He walked off straight away, his metal clattering about.

"So when are Cid and Hilda picking Eiko up?" Zidane asked.

"Later today I think." Dagger stated. Eiko sighed.

"What a shame. I've had such fun."

------

After breakfast, Eiko went for a walk, Zidane went to help Steiner train some knights, and Dagger had gone to the meeting. She was finished early, however, and decided to go find Eiko.

She walked through the massive gardens, taking her time smelling the flowers and singing to herself. But she stopped short when she heard something. She thought it was sobbing.

Walking very silently, she followed the sobs around the corner, near the pier where the boat went off to town. There, sitting by the water, was Eiko, her head in her arms.

Dagger walked up slowly towards her, careful not to make a sound. She stopped just behind Eiko. She must've felt her presence, because Eiko ceased crying and turned around.

"Oh, hello…" She said weakly, wiping tears away.

"Eiko, what's wrong?" Dagger said softly. She sat down next to her.

"Nothing… I just… I'm homesick, is all."

"Eiko, I can tell that's not the problem. That's not like you. In fact, you haven't exactly been yourself lately."

Eiko sighed. "I know…"

"Tell me what's wrong."

She drew in a deep breathe. "When I first became a princess, I thought it would be fun. I thought I'd be just like you. But father and mother were so proper, so formal… I guess I just wanted to make them proud of me. But I just feel so uncomfortable like this. Talking like a princess, dressing like one, talking like one, I'm fed up!"

"But Eiko, you didn't have to change overnight. You didn't have to change at all. You should always be yourself."

"I know, but… I just wanted to make them proud."

"You will. You'll make them more proud then they ever could be if you just stay as yourself. How can you do your best if you're pretending to be something you're not?"

"I guess so… I guess I went too far with the whole princess thing."

"Eiko?"

"Yeah?"

Dagger smiled. "What would you like to do?"

"Huh?"

"Tell me what you'd like to do. You're the guest here, it's your decision."

Eiko stopped to think for a moment.

"Could we go out and maybe practice our summons or fight a few monsters?" She asked.

"Sure, that sounds fun." Dagger grinned.

"Ooh! Ooh! And then we can go to Madain Sari and play with all the moogles!"

"If we have enough time, Eiko."

"Ooh! Ooh! And THEN we can go-"

Dagger laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"This is the Eiko I remember." Dagger smiled. Eiko jumped up and down, her boisterous self coming back to life.

"Come on, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

------

Regent Cid and Lady Hilda were on their way back from their weekend away.

"That was such a nice weekend, dear. But I hope Eiko was okay."

"I'm sure she was fine. After all, she and Garnet are like sisters." Cid grinned.

They soon landed at Alexandria castle and sure enough, Zidane, Dagger and Eiko were down there. Eiko was jumping up and down like a maniac she was so excited.

"Mother! Father!" She cried as they came down from the ship. She ran up and jumped onto them.

"Haha! Seems like you had a great time!" Cid said as he picked up Eiko. "How was your weekend?"

"It was great! I had loads of fun! I'll tell you all about it!" Eiko said in her normal voice.

"That sounds wonderful." Hilda beamed. "Thank you two so much for taking care of her."

"It was no trouble at all. We'd gladly do it anytime!" Dagger smiled.

After a little while it was time to go home. Hilda, Cid and especially Eiko waved goodbye from the ship as it flew away.

When they were gone, Zidane turned to Dagger. "What changed her so quickly? One minute she's high and mighty, and the next she bouncing off the walls!"

Dagger giggles. "She's herself again, Zidane."

"Say Dagger?"

"Yes?"

"Since we're alone tonight…"

"Is that _all_ you think about, Zidane?" Dagger sighed, walking back inside the castle.

"No! Hey, wait! Wait up Dagger! Hang on! I think about other stuff too!" Zidane cried as he chased after Dagger.

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And so this story ends. Hope you liked it!

Now press the magic review button and tell me what you think!


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